Sharing the Mortgage
by claudiastar
Summary: Rose and the Doctor go flat hunting, and come to terms with life without the TARDIS. AUish inspired by The Impossible Planet.


Discalimer: Sadly I do not own Doctor Who.

Author's Note: Here's what I did when I should have been revising. You know you all squealed when she said that to him! Yes- you know exactly which moment I mean.

Sharing the Mortgage

"No, no way! Absolutely not!"

Rose Tyler looked at the stricken and horrified face of her companion and burst out laughing. She doubled up with it gasping for breath. His face had just been so ridiculous she couldn't help it. Her companion's look of shocked disbelief turned to one of sour resentment. "That's right Rose, laugh it up why don't you."

Finally when she had recovered enough to be able to speak she replied. "Oh come on Doctor, it's not that bad. I've seen flats a lot worse than this back home."

It was true; she took a long look around the kitchen-cum-living room in which they were standing and decided that no, it was not bad at all. It was clean, had white walls and a high ceiling, all of which, she had learned were frighteningly rare. Best of all there was a huge window in the back wall that flooded the place with light. There were also she reflected, two bedrooms, and a functional bathroom- in short everything they needed. So what was his problem?

"Rose, what have I told you? I refuse to live in a place where the kitchen and the living room aren't properly separated, eating and lounging are two very different activities," he said tetchily.

This prompted another snort from her. "What's so funny?" he snapped.

Instantly she composed her expression into one of deadly seriousness. "Well, it's certainly better than that place we saw last week where the living room and the bathroom weren't properly separated," she said reasonably.

"Don't remind me," he said with a shudder at the very thought of it.

Her expression became suddenly more serious. "Give it a chance, yeah," she said quietly.

She walked over towards the window, giving him her biggest and best smile, inviting him to come and join her. "Have a look at what the view's like before you dismiss it completely, yeah?" she said, trying to sound encouraging. He shuffled reluctantly towards her, and they looked out together onto a glowing sunset, flashing like fire of the silvery walled tower blocks that dominated the sky line. There were glimpses of bright blue shy amidst the pink of the dying light. Rose drew in a little breath of satisfaction and leant on the window sill. Yes, this place would definitely do.

"I always hated tower blocks" the Doctor muttered. This for Rose was the last straw. She turned on him, frowning; hands on hips, looking remarkably like her mother had every time she refused to eat her Tea. "Look, I'm fed up with your grumbling. Why are you never satisfied with anything! This place is perfect. So get used to it."

His shoulders hunched defensively, and he turned away from her. _Typical,_ she thought. Now he's doing his soulfully moody thing. "It's just so _small_, _tiny_, _Minuscule_" He said finally, speaking the last word as if it was a disease.

"Yeah, well, the last place you lived was a pan dimensional time travelling space ship, that contained infinite possibilities within the confines of a 1960s police-box. _Of Course _it's small." She was smiling again now though. He grinned back at her.

"Sorry I'm such a grump."

"Yeah well, you lost your home; you're allowed to be," she said firmly, then, more gently "I miss the TARDIS too."

His face clouded over at once. "She wasn't just a vehicle you know," he said quietly.

"I know." A little hesitantly she reached out and put and arm round his shoulder. He didn't seem to mind. "Best time travelling space ship in the whole of the universe." She said in what she hoped was a comforting voice. He nodded, giving her a quick smile.

This somehow gave her confidence to voice a fear that had been building in her for a while now; ever since they'd begun flat hunting in fact. "It is that, right?" she asked "the idea of living anywhere? It's not…" she took a deep breath "It's not because you'd be living with me? More permanently I mean," suddenly she was speaking very fast "Because you don't have to, I'm really fine, ok…" she trailed off, "on my own" she finished, looking intently at the blue carpeted floor.

He stared at her, shocked, was this really what she'd been thinking? "No, no of course not Rose." He said, looking at her almost fiercely.

"You sure?" she asked, biting her bottom lip.

"Yes," he said, and it was true, he'd never been surer of anything in his life.

"Good." She gave him a beaming smile as a reward.

"Rose" he said, and she could tell be the way his volume dropped that he was saying something he thought mattered. "I want you to know that there's no one in all of time and space I'd rather be stranded with. I'm very glad you're here."

She could feel herself glowing. She could feel waves of happiness steaming right off her. "Thank you, thank you for saying that," she blurted out, "and me too. I… You're… You're the only thing that matters, you know that don't you?"

"Rose," he said, voice tense "I'm sorry, your mum, your home, your whole _life- _they're just gone, and it's my fault._"_

"Yeah, well, if you can manage, so can I. You're here, that'll do me." She said feeling suddenly very brave. As is to prove it she did something she would never have dared to do if they'd still been travelling on the TARDIS. She reached up and kissed him. At first he seemed shocked, and then he leaned in, kissing back, slipping an arm around her waist.

"Wow," she breathed, when they finally drew apart.

"Maybe," he began, and her heart skipped as she saw that he was grinning like a school boy, "maybe this place might not be so bad…if we did a little work on it, you know."

She nodded, blushing though she didn't know why. "Settling down, who'd have thought it of you," she said laughing and reaching to push a strand of thick brown hair off his face.

"Well, it doesn't seem so terrible suddenly. I always thought it sounded dull. But life with Rose Tyler is never dull is it?"

"Of course not," she replied, sticking her chin up and pouting a little, "So what kind of work did you have in mind?"

"Well, for starters will have to rid of that god-awful Sofa," he said pointing towards a white leather construction in the right hand corner "and the metal lampshades will have to go. If we're going to settle down, we'll have to do it in style."

As she heard him planning changes Rose had a sudden dizzying vision of her future- a stable life, stranded on the slow path, with the Doctor. _Not bad_ she thought _not bad at all._ It would definitely do.

* * *

The day they moved in he fell asleep on the Sofa. She sat at his feet on the floor for a while, staring at pathetically small pile of stuff they'd managed to piece together since losing the TARDIS, the sun from the window warming the left side of her face. She wondered vaguely if you could get chips on this planet. The Doctor let out a long sigh of breath, and she turned round to look at him. She felt a little jolt of amazement- here she was, a shop girl from south London, such a very, very long way from home, and yet, there was home, fast asleep on a hideous white Sofa. His eyes flickered open and he gave her a sleepy sort of smile. "So Rose Tyler, Ready to start being normal?" 

"Carpets and doors and everything?" she asked.

"Yep."

"I've always been normal- it's you who's the weird one."

"Nope, you Rose Tyler are definitelynot normal."

She gave him a look of mock horror and said "What's that supposed to mean," trying in vain to sound offended.

"You're extraordinary."

**THE END**


End file.
